Two simple tips can give antiques retail store owners an edge in improving a customer’s retail shopping experience. Columnist Wayne Jordan says antiques dealers must make shopping in your store a fun experience. Here are two techniques (one hi-tech, one low-tech) that other retailers use to ensure their customers enjoy shopping in their stores. Read More +

Finding a hidden treasure at a yard sale or antiques show is always memorable but why are we haunted by the antiques we pass up, overlook or leave behind? Columnist Melaine Thomas shares her greatest hits (of mistakes) and the lessons she learned passing up a $25 Georg Jensen bowl. Read More +

Your collectible arrives from the latest online auction and you’re disappointed. There’s a problem. What do you do now? Try patience, courtesy and diplomacy, says guest columnist and military collector P.H. Tuttle. He writes, “In my own dealings as a buyer, nearly all of my bad experiences have resulted from deals where I thought I was somehow beating the system. I ignored all of my internal alarms because I thought I was ‘getting a Rolex for the price of a Timex.'” Read More +

In almost every market, the number of traditional antiques stores continues to dwindle while other marketing channels — estate sale companies, auction companies, consignment stores and online venues — continue to grow. Read More +

Enter your favorite antiques collecting story in the 4th annual Antique Trader Favorite Finds contest for a chance to win a $500 auction credit from Heritage Auctions! This year’s runner-up entry will win a 10-volume reference library courtesy of Krause Publications. It’s free to enter and every participant receives a free copy of the Nov. 14, 2012, cover-dated magazine in which the stories are shared! Read More +

San Francisco in the ’60s brings thoughts of hippies and psychedelic rock, but the counterculture manifested itself in all the arts. Some of the rare 45 R.P.M. recordings from San Francisco bands have become valuable, but for collectors of the era’s artifacts, the greatest prizes are often original copies of the posters that promoted concerts in the Bay Area’s ballrooms and clubs. The best of those posters are magnificent examples of 20th century art and design and collectors are paying premium prices to own a slice of this era of American pop culture. Read More +

There are many mobile applications available for antique dealers and collectors. Before you search for apps that will serve you well in your hobby or business, Wayne Jordan says there are a few things you need to know. Although many exist, he lists two apps that have proven themselves useful in the antiques marketplace for price research, locating products and marketing. Read More +

The publication of Gordon Crosskey’s “Old Sheffield Plate, A History of the 18th Century Plated Trade,” the first on the subject to be both scholarly and visually stunning, might revive interest in the qualities of Old Sheffield Plate, as antique hunters become more appreciative of the technological and design history of the plated trade. Read More +